FAQs AP

Advanced Placement

Frequently Asked Questions:

Am I guaranteed college credit with the AP option?

Answer: No. AP college credit is dependent on your May AP test score. A score of a 3 or above may earn you college credit. You should contact the college of your choice (or refer to the college web site) to ascertain the college policy on awarding college credit for AP.

3. If I take an Advanced Placement course, am I required to take the exam?

Answer: Yes. All students enrolled in an Advanced Placement course will take the corresponding exam. Note: Students must score 3, 4, or 5 on an AP exam to receive college credit in an AP course.

4. If I am not sure I can earn college credit, why should I consider taking an AP course?

Answer: Please take a moment to read the following exerpts from an article by Jay Mathews, Washington Post Staff Writer on Tuesday, November 23, 2004; 9:51 am:

“Students who struggle in an AP course with its college-sized reading list and flunk the college-level, three-hour final exam …. are still much better off than if they had been denied a chance to take the course and the test. They have just played 72 holes with the academic equivalent of Tiger Woods, and although Tiger has beaten them, they have gained from the experience a visceral appreciation of what they are going to have to do to survive in college. That taste of academic trauma stays with them and helps them work hard enough to get their bachelor’s degree… The left column in the chart, under “Passed an AP Exam.” is the easiest to understand. Those students showed some academic talent in high school and have good degree completion rates, above the national average for five years after high school graduation.

The exciting parts of the chart … are the middle and right columns, under “Took, But Did Not Pass” an AP exam and “Did Not Take” an AP exam. Students who did not take AP in high school showed little success in college. That was not very startling. But look at the college completion percentages of students who took and failed an AP exam.

Theirs was a strange kind of failure. They were beaten by the equivalent of 30 or 40 strokes by this Tiger Woods of exams, but they still substantially increased their chances of college success. Anglos who flunked an AP exam were twice as likely to get their degrees as Anglos who never took one. Hispanics, African American and low-income students were three times as likely to get their degrees if they at least tried AP.”

Reprinted with permission from washingtonpost.com and The Washington Post.